A common item on the market today is a container of liquid that is manufactured and sold for distribution by spraying. Liquids are sprayed primarily in order to atomize or produce fine droplets in the air that impinge on a surface. Such atomization permits a better coverage of a surface by liquids and for this reason the preferred method of distributing many products is by spraying. For instance, window washing solutions are most ideally applied by spraying. Odor, bacterial and fungus eradicating solutions are typically used by spraying. Many cleaning solutions are best used by spraying, such as for cleaning oven interiors. Liquids are commonly available for spraying plants to enhance appearance or for fertilization, or in some cases, for eradication. There is virtually an unlimited number of applications of liquids that are dispensed by spraying.
For this reason, many liquids are sold in containers that have an attached hand operated sprayer. That is, having the type of sprayer that has a trigger or lever which, when manually activated, causes liquid to be atomized or dispensed in small droplets. These manually-activated sprayers require the user to sequentially squeeze a lever or a trigger. To maintain a uniform spray pattern, a user must operate the lever or trigger rapidly while at the same time moving the container if a large area is to be covered.
Many liquids are sold in bottles with a removable cap so that a sprayer can be attached to the container with the idea that the hand-held sprayer can be repeatedly used for different containers.
The typical hand-operated sprayer employed on the market today works satisfactorily if only a relatively small quantity is to be dispensed. However, if the user wishes to spray larger areas, the use of a hand-operated sprayer can become burdensome. For this reason, it has been suggested that hand-held sprayers can be supplied with electric power. A preferred method of supplying electric power is by use of a battery. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,766 that issued on Jan. 7, 2003, and entitled, “Liquid Sprayers” illustrates a hand-held sprayer that is attached to a container in an arrangement wherein the sprayer is powered by self-contained batteries. This patent is an example of the type of apparatus to which this application pertains.
For additional background information relating to hand-held sprayers reference may be had to the following previously-issued United States patents:
U.S.Pat. No.Inventor(s)Title3,173,584GiavasisPortable Motor Driven DispensingDevices3,993,250ShureApparatus For Spraying Liquid Materials4,222,525HildebrandtArrangement For Spraying Liquid FromA Bottle5,150,841Silvenis, et al.Liquid Spray Dispenser5,397,034WunschFinely Atomizing Device For Fluids5,716,007Nottingham, et al.Battery Operated Fluid Dispenser6,502,766Streutker, et al.Liquid Sprayers